GREG Mairs and his Loughborough Lightning teammates enjoyed one of the most dramatic finishes in AJ Bell National League history against Birmingham Lions on Tuesday.
They leapfrog the defending champions in the table as a result.
The Northwich ace knew his side had secured an aggregate success by the time he took to the court with mixed doubles partner Jenny Moore.
However they could not make it a clean sweep following a 9-3 9-4 6-9 9-7 defeat to Danes Rasmus Fladberg and Mette Poulson.
It proved just a blot on Loughborough’s copybook as they prevailed 4-1 to go second in the standings behind early leaders Suffolk Saxons.
The Lightning duo had a mixed night, finding the going tough as their opponents raced into a one-game lead in the blink of an eye.
And the Lions combination kept their foot on the gas to take the second 9-4 in a bid for their team’s first point of the evening.
But Mairs and Moore - still searching for a first victory of the new campaign - fought back, clinching the third after a valiant fightback.
It wasn’t to be for the former Sir John Deane’s College student though, despite a nip and tuck fourth game that went to the wire before Fladberg and Poulson batted their way to success.
That came after a moment of huge controversy in Birmingham, where a line-call on match point which – had the decision gone the other way – would have ended Loughborough’s chance of rising to second.
With the visitors two events up after both men’s and doubles success, Henri Hurskainen was forced into a tie-break with Lions captain Toby Penty after his opponent had battled back from two games down.
But needing just one point to win the shootout, and the match, Hurskainen benefitted from an overturned line-call.
It was enough for Lightning to topple the title-holders, to whom they lost in last season's final.
For fixtures, tickets and team news, visit nationalbadmintonleague.co.uk or follow @NBL_official on Twitter
Mixed emotions - gutted to lose my match but happy for the @LightningNBL team to get the win! Rome next week then finally home for Xmas 🤗🏡🎅🏼
— Jenny Moore (@jennymoore95) December 6, 2016
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